Maintaining Weight Loss

When people hit their weight loss goals, it’s easy to assume the hardest part is behind them. However, maintaining that progress is a skill with its own set of challenges. In fact, sometimes, people are more prepared for the initial grind of weight loss than for the long-term effort required for maintenance. This article aims to provide a collection of skills to manage maintenance more effectively while hopefully making it feel sustainable. Let’s dig in! 1. Really understanding the role of your energy expenditure Let’s start off by looking at possible changes in your total daily energy expenditure and BMR during the course of your weight loss. As a reminder, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the number of Calories your body uses in a day to do anything and everything: breathe, move, heal, think, run, sit, lift, etc. Calorie targets are personalized based on your energy use and the rate at which you want to lose or gain weight. For a deeper dive, read this article. In summary, your daily energy expenditure comes from four main components: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The energy your body needs to function at rest. The energy your body needs to function at rest. Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF): The Calories burned digesting and processing food. The Calories burned digesting and processing food. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT): The Calories burned during exercise. The Calories burned during exercise. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): The Calories burned through non-exercise activities like walking or fidgeting. These factors determine how many Calories you burn daily, with each contributing a specific percentage to your total energy expenditure. To add a little more clarity to this conversation, definitional views of metabolic adaptation (as discussed in this article) and adaptive thermogenesis are also relevant. Metabolic adaptation : A drop in BMR that’s greater than what you’d expect just from changes in lean body mass. : A drop in BMR that’s greater than what you’d expect just from changes in lean body mass. Adaptive thermogenesis: A more inclusive term that refers to any decrease in total energy expenditure that happens during weight loss. While it can include BMR reductions, it can also encompass factors such as reduced physical activity or other energy conservation measures during a deficit. For more details on this, check out Greg’s article on what happens to BMR after weight loss. If you’ve been using MacroFactor to lose weight, then you know that your TDEE can fluctuate. These fluctuations over the shorter term are usually due to NEAT and EAT (which I’ll cover more in the next section). TEF probably won’t shift TDEE all that dramatically, but it’s worth a little consideration. TEF accounts for the Calories you burn when digesting food and will generally scale with total food intake. This means that if you increase your Calories during maintenance, you could see a slight increase in TEF. That said, keep in mind the overall composition of the food. For example, suppose you were eating low-Calorie and high-density foods (e.g., lean protein, vegetables, fruits) during your Calorie-deficient period, but then shift back to ultra-processed “fun” foods, you could lose the small TEF boost you got from whole foods. With all this said, it’s a pretty small swing either way, but since we’re diving in, it’s something to consider. This moves us to your BMR (and, at times, metabolic adaptation). If you haven’t lost a lot of physical weight, then you probably don’t need to give much thought to alterations in BMR or metabolic adaptation. If you’re losing a modest amount of weight, say, less than 10% of your starting body weight (and you’re taking a relatively slow and steady approach), the drop in BMR due to metabolic adaptation tends to be mild, usually in the range of 5%. However, if you’re dieting more intensely or losing a significant amount of body weight, adaptation tends to occur more quickly, and BMR reductions of around 10% can become more common. That said, even if your BMR takes a slight hit during weight loss, most of that drop is simply your body doing less work to support a smaller frame. And while metabolic adaptation is real, it’s not necessarily permanent nor does it make a significant difference. In the long term, your body doesn’t seem to cling to some fixed “set point” that drags you back to your starting weight. There’s physiological pushback during weight loss (more hunger, less spontaneous movement, a slight metabolic decrease), but those effects don’t necessarily stick around forever. What matters more is how aggressive the diet was, how long you stayed on the diet, and whether you gave your body a chance to stabilize at the new weight. And FYI, if you are worried about aggressive weight rebound, I highly recommend reading about dynamic maintenance within MacroFactor. All of this is to say that while there is a conversation about maintenance being unsustainable from a BMR standpoint, that’s far less of a factor for most, and it’s more of an issue of behavior and activity. For TDEE, the key is to watch for significant shifts in these areas, which is where we will focus the remainder of our efforts in this article. 2. Prioritize training and general activity So, we’ve covered whether you need to account for or adjust for any long-term change in TDEE and BMR from weight loss. Let’s assume that you’re in a state of maintenance and you’re actively trying to eat as close as possible to your total daily energy expenditure. Where you can make more significant changes in your TDEE is in activity. Exercise is a place where a lot of people struggle after periods of weight loss. To be fair, a lot of this has to do with time management and lifestyle habits. For many, exercise just doesn’t rank high on their list of priorities. And just as I’ve stated that exercise can aid fat loss but is not a requirement for fat loss, the same is true for maintenance. You don’t have to exercise in order to maintain weight loss, but I’d highly recommend it. Physical activity is seen as one of the most consistent predictors of successful weight loss maintenance. Maintenance is also the time you can really ramp up your training because you’re moving from a place of inadequate energy to actually being able to fuel your workouts and take advantage of the extra Calories and recovery. With exercise, you’re looking to primarily do three things: Maintain (or gain) muscle mass Maintain (or improve) general health Watch for any dramatic shifts in overall daily activity With muscle mass and general conditioning (like cardiovascular work), you’re basically trying to set yourself up for the bare minimum of good health. For example, maintaining more muscle mass has been linked to a lower risk of metabolic deterioration over time, acting as a kind of metabolic defense system. With that said, even if we are talking about having an easier time with maintenance, avoiding sedentary behavior is high on the list for achieving success. One study looking at weight loss maintenance found that increases in sedentary time and decreases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were both linked to weight regain. For example, a 10-minute drop in daily MVPA was associated with a 0.35 kg weight gain at 6 months, while a 1,000-step decrease per day was linked to a 0.89 kg gain at 24 months. Another study from Knell et al found that hitting at least 150 minutes of MVPA per week was linked to a greater likelihood of long-term weight maintenance, even if participants had higher levels of sedentary time. Now, where some people get misled is assuming that hitting a lot of training or maintaining high activity levels gives them free rein in the eating department. They lose fat, start lifting, feel great, but the weight still creeps up. Sadly, you can’t out-train excess energy intake. Everyone has their own natural threshold, and while you can skew the numbers in either direction quite respectably, the concept of constrained energy (where your body adjusts to increased activity in ways that can offset the Calories you think you’re burning) is also still real. Overall, exercise is a key component of successful maintenance. The frequency and intensity can range from daily walking to moderate to vigorous training 3-4 times per week, but if you make it a priority, it can be a pretty big factor in your success. 3. Maintain a regular and quality sleep schedule When it comes to maintaining your weight loss, sleep is one of those habits that’s easy to push down the priority list. It’s tempting to think you can just muscle through without it, but consistently neglecting sleep is risky. The first reason is that sleep is a pretty big contributor to controlling appetite. There’s a decent amount of evidence suggesting that sleep loss can contribute to increases in ghrelin and reductions in leptin (which are associated with hunger and appetite control), though this will vary based on the severity and length of the sleep loss. There are also neurological factors at play, where our impulses might be shortened, making that grab for food a little easier, but again, this can vary based on how long and how severely you’ve been sleep-deprived. Basically, the mechanisms that could increase your food intake are there, but they might differ in severity and amount of time to hit. From a logistical standpoint, it’s also easy to understand that the longer you’re awake, the more hours you have to eat. This will vary for different people. One study looked at sleep restriction in men and women, where they had ad libitum (essentially whatever they desire) access to any food during a monitored study. The researchers considered a 300-Calorie surplus over maintenance to be a significant cutoff and found that at least 42% of the participants hit that level above their normal sleep condition (though 19% actually ate less). What’s more interesting is that individuals who rated themselves as having good sleep habits before the experiment were more negatively affected, Calorie-wise, by the sleep restriction than those who were already more used to experiencing worse sleep. And piggybacking off that point, regularity is pretty important. This NoHoW trial found that total sleep duration didn’t predict long-term weight maintenance as much as the variability of sleep onset. Each additional hour of variability in sleep onset was associated with a 0.55 kg increase in body weight and a 0.41% increase in body fat percentage over a 12-month period. That means consistent and predictable sleep is just as important as aiming for “x” number of hours. That’s not to say you should choose to consistently get less sleep, but if you’re someone who gets wrecked by losing your good night’s sleep and then finds yourself reaching for food to help erase that feeling, it tracks. While there appear to be individual differences in how we respond to sleep loss, there’s sufficient evidence to suggest that maintaining consistent quality sleep can be a useful aid in weight loss efforts. 4. Use logging and create good habits Maintaining weight loss typically requires continued effort to sustain the initial weight loss. You likely had a logging system in place during your loss (such as an app, journal, or program) that provided structure and guidance. One of the most common mistakes people make after reaching their goal is dropping that system and “winging it.” While that can work for some, most people find more successful weight maintenance means not giving up the system entirely. Less successful weight maintainers often exhibit a decline in self-monitoring over time, characterized by decreases in behaviors such as self-weighing and food tracking. As logging becomes less consistent, it’s not uncommon to see the weight creep back up. Many people get hung up on the idea that logging means they can never relax, but that doesn’t have to be the case. You don’t have to track every Calorie or weigh yourself daily to participate in valuable monitoring. For many, weighing in one or two times a week and estimating Calorie intake on a handful of days is enough to stay mindful of trends before they become problems. Mostly, what you’re looking for is consistency and, then ideally, ramping up a little frequency in that consistency if you’re noting any problems. For example, a study by Peterson et al found that even infrequent but consistent loggers maintained better than those who logged more often but did so very inconsistently. For example, let’s say you weighed yourself every day, but you did so at different times throughout the day, sometimes after eating but other times when you woke up. The frequency of weighing isn’t going to help if there are many changing variables, similar to food logging. If you’re only tracking a few days a week sporadically, you’re not likely to catch any trends or find patterns that can help you shift. With that said, I do think frequency is helpful. A recent study found that you’re likely to benefit from at least 3 days of logging a week, but upping that to 5 to 6 days could lead to additional success. So, while logging more often is great, doing it consistently is better. And if you can manage both, I think it gives you the best advantage. Lastly, adding purposeful, constructive habits to this situation can set you up for more effortless weight loss maintenance. I’ve discussed habits extensively (check out this series if you’re interested), and ultimately, what you’re trying to achieve with habit work is an upfront effort to create a more automated and supportive system over the long term. The beauty of habits is that if you set up your environment with supportive cues, you’re creating a system where certain actions just “happen” without much thought. A narrative review on habits and weight loss maintenance by Cleo et al echoes this point, noting that these automatic behaviors, formed through repeated actions, become very useful for maintaining weight loss. The automaticity reduces the cognitive load of daily decision-making. Ideally, it all stops feeling like a chore and just happens. In short, how you keep your eyes on things can be very individual (as well as how often). However, you’re setting yourself up for a better experience if there is consistency and a few baked-in habits. 5. Lessons on success from diet to a sustainable daily grind The most challenging aspect of maintaining weight for most people is adjusting to a new normal. It’s not that you need to stick to rigid, restrictive diets or worry about extreme metabolic adaptations. Still, the eating habits that contributed to your initial weight gain are likely not the ones that will keep you at your goal weight. Ideally, your weight-loss phase helped you build some foundational habits (like eating more protein or incorporating more nutrient-dense foods), and maintenance is about carrying those lessons forward. The most consistent finding in research on weight maintenance is the importance of maintaining a high protein intake. A systematic review and meta-analysis by Van Baak and Mariman highlighted that higher protein diets tend to support better long-term weight maintenance. While low-Calorie, nutrient-dense foods can also play a role by helping satiety, it’s important not to conflate the need for a lower-Calorie intake during weight loss with a need to stay on a strict low-Calorie diet for maintenance. Instead, the goal is to find your ideal TDEE and match it with a sustainable, nutrient-rich diet that supports your physical goals and quality of life. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. In a 2019 systematic review of the determinants of weight loss maintenance, researchers examined how various factors interact to achieve successful weight maintenance outcomes. To say that these factors are just as varied and complicated as what aids successful weight loss is an understatement. Ultimately, this is a lifestyle game, and it’s essential to always keep your eye on the target and the reality of the situation. Determinants of weight loss maintenance Category Determinant Demographic/Social factors Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status, social support, food security Behavioral Weight history, self-monitoring, physical activity, nutrient intake strategy, lifestyle habits (e.g., drinking, smoking) Psychological/Cognitive Stress, mood, depression, quality of life, motivation, self-efficacy, habits, self-concept Inspired by Varkevisser et al (2019) Similarly, a systematic review from Paixão et al looked at weight control registries from five different countries, covering over 10,000 participants. The review highlights common strategies associated with better weight-loss maintenance and encompasses many of the key points we’ve covered here. A recent 2025 cross-cultural study also found similar commonalities in those who successfully maintained weight. Common positive and negative correlates to maintenance success Category Factors Positive correlates – Healthy foods available at home – Increasing vegetable consumption – Reducing sugary and fatty food intake – Engaging in regular physical activity – Frequent self-weighing – Maintaining consistent dietary routines Negative correlates – High-energy food and fat intake – Eating in response to emotional cues – Disinhibition and lack of self-control – Frequent fast food consumption – Inconsistent dietary routines – Poor body image Inspired by Paixão et al (2020) and Phelan et al (2025) If this all sounds a bit overwhelming, that’s understandable. Weight maintenance often requires a similar level of effort as weight loss, and that’s where many people get tripped up. It’s not always automatic. If you’re struggling to maintain momentum, it may be time to establish a set of habits and systems that cater to your needs. For some, this might mean using an app like MacroFactor to track trends. For others, it could be something as simple as regular weigh-ins, a meal plan service, or having a few non-negotiable rules about food in your house. The goal isn’t to count every Calorie forever but to set up a system that keeps you on track and ultimately feels sustainable. If you can avoid drastic drops in activity, keep a close eye on your TDEE and weight trends, and make mindful yet enjoyable food choices, maintenance doesn’t have to be a constant struggle. Recap Here are the key points recapped for the TL;DR crowd: Understand shifts in your TDEE: Consider the long-term and temporary shifts in TDEE that can help you optimize the number of Calories you can consume during maintenance. Prioritize activity: A consistent positive indicator in research of successful maintenance is regular exercise and activity. Try to incorporate a mix of resistance training and general physical activity to help maintain a slightly higher overall TDEE (which, in turn, allows for a slightly higher food intake). Have a consistent sleep schedule: Quality and consistent sleep can help reduce weight gain. Regularity may be more important than total hours, but ideally, try to improve both. Use an accountability system: Self-monitoring, whether through an app, journal, or habit-building program, is a strong predictor of long-term weight maintenance. Consistency is key, even if details are more muddled. Sustainable food choices and strategies: Successful long-term maintenance often means carrying over habits you built during weight loss (e.g., prioritizing protein, high-density and low-Calorie foods, and monitoring). Try not to think of it as a lifelong sacrifice without any fun or joy, and instead, just keep your eye on the ball and periodically ensure you’re still keeping yourself in check.